1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to animal feeding apparatuses, and in particular relates to an adjustable elevated serving tray for pets.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, animals such as dogs and cats are fed in dishes placed at floor level. It is known, however, that it may be injurious to the health of an animal, particularly a large animal, to eat at floor level. In addition, feed containers placed on the floor are easily accessible to crawling insects.
Thus, elevated pet feeders have been developed such as the pet dining table of Steininger (U.S. Pat. No. Des. 377,244) and the dog feeder of Fahmie (U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,195), which is composed of a top panel with holes to receive feeding pans, and three hinged support panels that hold the top panel above the floor level and that may be collapsed in coplanar position to be portable. The pet feeder of Teschke (U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,089) elevates a removable feeding table by placing it on a feed storage container.
It has been recognized, however, that having a fixed height feeder does not allow the pet owner to make adjustments for differently sized pets. Patents addressing this problem include U.S. Pat. No. 4,044,723 of Fitzpatrick, which provides a table supported by legs to hold the food dishes. The legs may be detachably secured to the table so that one set of legs may be replaced by another set of legs of a different length as is desired.
The feeding tray means of Brown (U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,759) has an elevated rectangular plate having extendible legs hinged to the bottom of the plate. The feeder holder of Altman (U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,071) provides two pairs of rigid L-shaped legs, each of which has slots so that U-shaped brackets may be inserted in opposing aligned slots to define a platform for holding a feeder above a pan of water to keep crawling insects from getting to the feed. The pet food serving apparatus of Mersits et al. (U.S. Publication No. US2003/0106498) also elevates a food tray above a moat, and may be adjusted in height by means of threaded leg sections, by vertical spacers, or by cut-out notches in the leg for insertion of the food tray.
The adjustable animal feeder of Lemkin (U.S. Pat. No. 6,145,474) has two molded plastic components: an upwardly opening hollow base, and a downwardly opening hollow cover for holding bowls. There are ribs spaced about the interior of the cover and grooves spaced about the perimeter of the base, so that when the cover is placed in one position, the ribs slide down the grooves and the bowls are in a lowered position, and when the cover is placed in another position, the ribs rest on the upper ends of the walls of the base and the bowls are in an elevated position.
The trough support of Swinney (U.S. Pat. No. 3,145,007) utilizes stanchions which have a trough carrying sleeve surrounding the stanchion, and a pawl and ratchet mechanism to change the height of the trough.
The adjustable pet feeding stand of Cooper (U.S. Pat. No. 3,651,787) has side walls with apertured leg portions, and apertured extensible support members that may be held in different positions with respect to the leg portions by means of fastening elements placed through the apertures.
Patents providing vertical structures upon which the height of feeders may be adjusted include U.S. Pat. No. Des. 424,758 of Akopdjanov (double bowl structure positionable at any one of a number of holes in the vertical structure), U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,629 of Wix (horizontal frame for holding bowls at different heights on a mounted support member), U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,124 of Bergen (wall mounting apparatus having a trigger and brake device so that bowl can be held at a particular elevation), U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,176 of Tully (bracket with horizontal slots has a tray attached to any one of the horizontal slots by means of a hinge), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,223 of Pierce (support base with at least two arms extending upwardly and having means to engage a food dish support plate).
Other adjustable feeders have multiple legs which may be adjusted in position to change the height of the feeder, such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,165,968 of Hill (legs adjusted longitudinally through slots.
Many prior feeding devices have a very complicated or bulky structure making them difficult to construct and/or to move from position to position, or they are not adjustable in height at all, or have very limited adjustability. Others have an opening or hole which only accepts a particular sized dish.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an adjustable elevated serving tray for pets that is adjustable to multiple heights, is easily constructed, assembled and disassembled, and movable from one position to another.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a serving tray for pets that holds the pet's dishes in place yet does not limit the dish size substantially.
Other objects and advantages will be more fully apparent from the following disclosure and appended claims.